Cod Pieces (because I HAD to go there)

Sometimes I wish I weren't allergic to crustaceans. There are days when I crave crab cakes the way some people crave chocolate doughnuts, but the prospect of anaphylaxis puts a damper on my desires.

This  is not to say I can't eat fish in general – in moderation. With that in mind, I occasionally do my best to cheat the system. I hunt down a simple enough crab cake recipe, and substitute a tender, sweet fish.

This week, I found Cod.

I found it in the freezer at ALDI. I also found I have a superabundance of Old Bay seasoning blend, big scallions growing in a flower pot in the laundry room, some eggs, a mess of almond flour, several jars of Duke's mayonnaise, and a half-pound chunk of Parmesan cheese. Add to that, there are, perhaps, a dozen different recipes for fish cakes and crab cakes in my files (hard copy and digital), none of which was exactly what I was looking for (especially as calls for breading and other fillers), leading me to make stuff up as I went along. Sort of.

To be fair, I've done variations on this theme before, but usually with canned fish of one sort or another, and a mess of lemon juice (and no cheeses). I like it better when there's fresh fish or fresh-frozen fish factored in, for F's sake.

So, let us eat cakes.

Cod Cakes (Big Cod Pieces!)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
2 lbs cod filets, baked or steamed, allowed to cool
2 large eggs
1/3 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup finely chopped scallion greens
2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning blend


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375º F.

Prepare a large well-greased non-stick baking sheet.

In a small bowl, mix together 1 cup Parmesan cheese and all the almond flour. Separate 1 cup to stir into fish mixture, and put the remaining portion of this in a shallow dish.

Break apart cod filets into large chunks.

In a medium bowl, lightly mix together eggs, mayonnaise, scallions, and Old Bay seasoning.

Add in 1 cup of almond flour/Parm mix and all the fish chunks, and gently stir, breaking up larger chunks of fish – be careful to avoid over-mixing (I do this by hand. You get a better sense of how large the chunks will be, and it's also surprisingly therapeutic).

Divide mixture into 12 equal portions, forming each into a ball. Roll in reserved almond flour/Parm mix, place on well-oiled baking sheet, and gently press into flat patties about 1 inch thick.

Sprinkle reserved 1/2 cup grated cheese over top of patties.

Bake 15 minutes, or until top is golden-brown.

Allow to stand & cool about 3-5 minutes before serving.

These can be fried in butter (or a small amount of oil), as well, but that's a more labor-intensive operation, fraught with risk that the cakes will fall apart before you can get them to the plate. Also, there's all that extra grease…

Flourless Whole-Citrus Cake

 I had a few blood oranges and a tangerine or two left over from another project I'd made a not long ago, & couldn't decide what to do with them, until I came across a series of recipes for whole-lemon and whole-orange cakes. Naturally, I had to try this, especially as I'm only 75% of the way through our birthday cake season.

Therefore, today is Flourless Whole-Blood-Orange (-and-Maybe-a-Tangerine-Because-Why-Not?) Cake week. 

It begins with a few thoroughly washed citrus fruits, a saucepan, and some water. 

It ends with dessert.

 

Flourless Whole-Citrus Cake

Ingredients:

Cake:
3 large lemons or medium oranges (or, as I did here, go for 3 small blood oranges and 1 small "Cutie" tangerine), divided (for optional icing)

3 Tablespoons Cointreau or other good orange liqueur 

6 large eggs, room temperature, separated

250 grams (approx. 1 1/4 cups) sugar

300 grams almond flour (finely-ground almond meal) 

2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions:

Thoroughly wash your citrus fruit, place in saucepan, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, drain, rinse, and cover again with cold water. Bring to boil again, then allow to continue boiling for 60 minutes. Drain, and allow to cool completely.

Cut fruit into quarters, remove seeds, place seedless fruit parts – peels and all – into food processor, and blend until smooth. Add Cointreau, mix in completely.  Reserve about 2 tablespoons for icing, if desired.

Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with baking parchment paper (I usually give the parchment a quick spritz of water on each side so it's flexible and sets in place easily).

Preheat oven to 350º F. 

In medium mixer bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar, beating on medium until light and fluffy.  

In separate mixing bowl, whisk together almond flour and baking powder. Stir into egg yolk/sugar mixture along with 1 cup of fruit pulp. Set aside. 

Clean stand mixer's whisk attachment and bowl thoroughly to be sure they are oil-free (I recommend wiping down with vinegar-soaked paper towel) before placing egg whites in the bowl. Beat egg whites on medium until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the flour/pulp/sugar mixture.

Pour into prepared springform pan, smooth top, place on middle rack of oven, and bake at 350º F for 60 minutes* or until toothpick inserted in center comes out sticky but without crumbs.

Allow to cool completely, on cooling rack, before removing from springform pan. Top with icing (recipe below) or sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

 

 Icing (optional):

Ingredients: 

approximately 2 tablespoons citrus pulp (from above) plus 1 teaspoon Cointreau

juice of one small orange or two small tangerines, when combined with pulp, equalling 1/3 cup 

250 grams (about 2 cups) confectioners' – powdered – sugar † 

1 teaspoon butter, melted

Directions:

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine juice, pulp, and powdered sugar, whisking until smooth. 

Add in melted butter, whisk again until smooth and fluid (you can nuke it all for up to 30 seconds, if needed, but if you do, you'll need to allow it to cool a bit before the next step). 

Pour over top of cake. 

Serve or freeze within 2 days.

*If it looks as though the cake is getting too brown too soon, gently cover with foil for the last 5–10 minutes of baking.

†If you prefer a thinner or thicker icing, you can adjust the amount of sugar/liquid to your personal liking.

Further thoughts:
Having tasted the blood orange pulp

3 Blood oranges & 1 "Cutie" after boiling
& being run through the food processor,
with 3 TBS Cointreau yet to be added
(made about 1.2 cups total)

before I put it into the batter, I decided to give it a little extra subtlety by also using a portion of lemon sugar I'd had on hand since Christmas. It didn't change the weight, but if I'd been going for volume, the lemon sugar ended up taking up about 25-30% more room in a measuring cup, ounce for ounce – well, gram for gram, actually – than plain or ultrafine (caster) sugar. (I went with 200 grams sugar, 55 grams lemon sugar, just because.)

I'll have to try this with plain ol' lemons, sometime, or even Meyer lemons or straight-up tangeroonies, next time we get a big box of Cuties. Currently, all my fresh lemons are tied up in the making of a lemon meringue pie, though, so… blood oranges and tangeroonies it is. No complaints, though. Not. One.

Well, maybe one. 

Somebody doesn't like citrus